Farepak crash blamed for husband's death

A grieving widow has blamed her husband's apparent suicide on the collapse of the Farepak Christmas savings club.

Debbie Shah, 29, said her husband Riku Shah, 29, of Stockton-on-Tees, became 'noticeably quiet' after the company went bankrupt last month. The taxi operator's body was found in the River Tees on Wednesday. His wife has claimed he took his own life.

'I'm not saying it's down to Farepak, but it's one of the factors of it,' Debbie Shah told the Evening Gazette. 'I think it's played a part in it but how much of a part I'm never going to know.'

Mr Shah, to whom she had been married for three years, had saved £600 to buy Christmas presents for his three step-children through the scheme.

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